The instrument could initially be used to target US goods rather than services, reducing the likelihood of a severe American response.
In other words „don’t target Big Tech“ even if we fire the Bazooka.
this post was submitted on 19 Jan 2026
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What are the services American companies provide that are so valuable they are more important than protecting the sovereignty of a European country?
MS Office? Android? iOS?
I generally don’t know what services they are afraid of targeting and potentially losing.
No mainstream alternative to Android/iOS exists. Same goes for Visa/Mastercard. All of them are US products.
Essentially shutting down all smartphones and most consumer payments would be pretty crippling.
I hope this whole thing is enough of a wake-up call for the EU to put (more) effort into a lasting solution.
If you shutdown MSOffice, Android, and iOS, that would probably halt most of the big European companies like WannaCry but worse.
On top, all credit card transactions are US-based: Visa, Mastercard, and then PayPal.
WhatsApp is a pretty big one. Europe runs on it. Insta and YouTube are a revenue source for a lot of especially young people. Uber and Lyft are widespread (but do have local alternatives).
It's Internet services that are the big target, and those Europeans would miss are the ones that generate local revenue.
For anyone who's curious.
The ACI, which entered into force in 2023 and has yet to be used, allows the EU to impose a broad menu of countermeasures, including investment restrictions, procurement bans, targeted sanctions, and tariffs on goods and services.
Ignacio García Bercero, a former senior European Commission trade official, said failure to deploy the ACI – which he noted could allow retaliation “within weeks” under a so-called “urgency procedure” – would point to deeper institutional dysfunction.
The "institutional dysfunction" has been evident to leftists around the world for decades. America has been on the path to fascism for over 50 years, and has pulled the world down with it in an endless race to the bottom. America has been exporting their fascist propaganda using their mainstream media, social media, and big tech companies since the creation of Fox News. Now the entire "democratic" world faces existential economic and national security threats from domestic Nazi parties, as well as directly from American technological, military, commercial, and industrial infiltration.
We should all blame our own political and economic leaders for selling us out and solidifying these vulnerabilities. For helping construct big brother. But no, neoliberal parasites will weasel out of most of the blame, probably also blaming "the left".
My hot take is that at the same time, our "institutional dysfunction" has been what has protected us from going all the way down the path to fascism. Strong leaders that get things done quickly usually aren't great for democracy.
Having the weapon is better than using it up IMO.
The threat has to be credible to work. Not using it now means there is no weapon.
Yeah you have to show its destructive power and that you dare to use it first to be a potent threat (see Hiroshima and Nagasaki).
Agreed. Once you use the ACI, you've fired all the bullet (singular intentional) you had, and there is plenty more Trump can do.